hooray for random korean holidays!

let me just start by saying that this past weekend was chuseok weekend in korea. chuseok is a traditional korean holiday used to signify the end of the planting season and the harvest of crops. they compare it to american thanksgiving, but it is slightly different. they enjoy feasts with rice cakes and give thanks to their diety and ancestors.

so, what did all of that mean for me? a five day holiday, that's what! and what better way to spend the holiday than relaxing and catching up on some much needed sleep!

wednesday night, we went to la festa and had hawaiian bbq...mmm...and headed back for a night at sunny's.

thursday we slept in and i shopped a bit. i met jess and turk and we picked up some cocktails and jenga and had a game night at turk's. around 10 we went out to sunny's and met up with doug and jody, a couple of jess' friends, and we decided to head out to la festa for another night of drinks and random shennanigans.

friday was jess' birthday so we ended up in seoul at a palace and we walked around for a bit before we all decided we were too tired from the past few late nights and we headed back. once we were home, i decided it was time to spruce up my ghetto apartment. if i am going to be here for 11 more months, i can no longer stare at plain white walls and hard floor! so, i went to emart and bought some throw pillows and candles and random little things. start off small is my motto. i got a call from turk saying yoona was making dinner and that i should head over and so i did, for some yummy chicken curry! afterwards we ended up once again in la festa with jess, howard, and a guy named mike whom we had met the same night i met the argentinians, and one of mike's friends. we spent a few hours there but we were all pretty wiped out so we called it an early night and went back to baeksok.

they next day was chuseok and i invited everyone over for breakfast. afterwards, yoona, turk, and i decided on going to itaewon to look for some wedding ducks and some board games. i am officially instituting game night here! we walked around for a bit and ended up at the wolfhound for lunch. all i can say is it is an irish pub in the middle of korea. to me, it was like a beacon of light shining out rays of hope for a tastey meal! and man, did this place deliver! i have decided this is my favorite place in the world to eat at this moment in my life. i seriously think my mouth had a mini joy-gasm each time i bit into my entree. after a while we headed back due to the fact that we were all still completely exhausted. we got back around 7:30 and i was in bed by 9 for the first night since i have been in korea.

sunday i decided i was gonna have a lazy day and i chilled at my place and watched movies and cleaned up my apartment. it was the first day i didn't spend running around, so it was a nice change of pace to relax. the night before, i got a call from emilio and he asked me to meet him in la festa around 7. i got there at quarter past and he wasn't there so i phoned turk to meet me for dinner. around 7:30, emilio showed up and so we all had a couple drinks and went to dinner before emilio had to head back to where his group is performing now. walking home with turk was really nice. i really love being able to talk to him. i couldn't have asked for a better twin! i was able to whine to him about all my boy problems and he didn't get annoyed even once at me! have i mentioned that i love my twin? he's the kind of person i could spill my heart out to and not even think twice about it. it is fantastic!

monday rolled around and i met up with the girls (grace, jenny, and jess) for a shopping day in dongdaemun. it was fantastic! this place is a girl's heaven! i didn't find the resale shop, so i will have to ask ivan at school where it is! after that, we wandered about and had lunch followed by ice cream and then a tea shop! although, in true american fashion, i myself ordered a coffee. i did however try the teas the girls were drinking and found that i quite liked them! these british girls are going to turn me into a tea drinker, one of these days! while wandering about, grace taught us some new korean phrases. i am up to around 15 these days...impressive, i know!

after tea, it was getting dark and we all had a lot of work to get done so we headed to the subway to get the train home. all in all, this was a fantastic weekend. the best part in it was when i discovered that i can now fit in my size 1 jeans!!! hooray! so, by all accounts, i have lost about 10 pounds since coming here. only a few more pounds (about an inch) and i will be back into my favorite jeans which are a zero! here's hoping! by the time i leave korea, i hope to be back to the same size i was when i started going to semo almost 5 years ago! wish me luck!